Earth-boring tools for forming wellbores in subterranean formations may include cutting elements secured to a body. For example, a fixed-cutter earth-boring rotary drill bit (“drag bit”) may include cutting elements fixedly attached to a bit body thereof. As another example, a roller cone earth-boring rotary drill bit may include cutting elements secured to cones mounted on bearing pins extending from legs of a bit body. Other examples of earth-boring tools utilizing cutting elements include, but are not limited to, core bits, bicenter bits, eccentric bits, hybrid bits (e.g., rolling components in combination with fixed cutting elements), reamers, and casing milling tools.
Cutting elements used in earth-boring tools often include a supporting substrate and a cutting table, the cutting table comprising a volume of superabrasive material, such as a volume of polycrystalline diamond (“PCD”) material, on or over the supporting substrate. One or more exposed surfaces of the cutting table act as cutting surfaces of the cutting element. During a drilling operation, cutting edges at least partially defined by adjacent, peripheral portions of the cutting surfaces of the cutting elements are pressed into the formation under force applied through a drill string, such force commonly termed weight on bit (WOB). As the earth-boring tool moves (e.g., rotates) relative to the subterranean formation under WOB, the cutting elements engage surfaces of the subterranean formation and the cutting edges shear away formation material.
During a drilling operation, the cutting elements of an earth-boring tool may be subjected to high temperatures (e.g., due to friction between the cutting table and the subterranean formation being cut), high axial loads (e.g., due to the weight on bit (WOB)), and high impact forces (e.g., due to variations in WOB, formation irregularities, differences in formation materials, vibration, etc.). Such conditions can result in undesirable wear (e.g., dulling) and/or damage (e.g., chipping, spalling) to the cutting tables of the cutting elements. The wear and/or damage often occurs at or near the cutting edges of the cutting tables, and can result in one or more of decreased cutting efficiency, separation of the cutting tables from the supporting substrates of the cutting elements, and separation of the cutting elements from the earth-boring tool to which they are secured.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have cutting tables, cutting elements, earth-boring tools (e.g., rotary drill bits), and methods of forming and using the cutting tables, the cutting elements, and the earth-boring tools facilitating enhanced cutting efficiency and prolonged operational life during drilling operations as compared to conventional cutting tables, conventional cutting elements, conventional earth-boring tools, and conventional methods of forming and using the conventional cutting tables, the conventional cutting elements, and the conventional earth-boring tools.